Comments on: Tocino / Cured Pork

By: Amateurcook

Amateurcook — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 09:44:49 +0000

Hi MM, thanks for the tocino recipe. I was looking for salitre-free tocino and this is perfect. I’m one of the lurkers who reads your blog :) I agree, iodized salt gives food a slightly bitter taste so I do not use it for cooking. Adding iodine to table salt was a cheap and effective way to address iodine deficiency (and the resulting goiter) on a massive scale, especially in landlocked areas such as the Cordilleras. But I think because of it we forgot the true taste of salt. Maybe we can do without iodized salt for cooking if we eat lots of iodine-rich seafood. The use of pineapple juice in tocino as a natural meat tenderizer is interesting. I’ll try that for my second batch of pork.
For those who want to make tocino as a business, please contact the Department of Science and Technology or check out their website. It might surprise you to find that DOST has many tested recipes used for cottage industry-scale production of cured meats, daing, canned sardines, atchara, tomato ketchup, ubeng halaya, etc. I learned about this back in gradeschool HE class. The recipes are available online. Some are written in Visayan, English and Filipino. Here’s the link to their tocino recipe in Visayan (?): https://region10.dost.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=191&Itemid=76. You can request brochures in English/Tagalog from your local DOST office. They might be able to provide food production safety guidelines as well. Hope this helps.

Keep up the great blogging MM! Thanks for sharing your experiences and tips.

By: JC

JC — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:38:47 +0000

TOCINO RECIPE

To marinade:

*1 Cup of Pineapple Juice (DOLE is highly recommended)
*half a kilo of pork meat
*3 tsp of salt (It’s really up to you how much salt you put in, but obviously not too much as it is BAD FOR YOU)
*1 1/2 tbs of brown sugar

Put all the ingredients into a bowl. Using gloves, work the ingredients together with your hands until all of the meat are completely covered.

Leave to marinade overnight, or two days i guess is ok.

Now the crucial part:

Put the mixture (after a day or two) into a pan. Add 2 cups of water, bring to boil and then simmer. Let it simmer until the meat is tender and keep adding a bit of water everytime it dries up. When the meat is tender let it dry up and the liquid evaporate. Then its ready for frying!

This is my grandmother’s recipe and she was known for her cooking.. May she rest in peace! Love you Nana!

By: Marketman

Marketman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:18:29 +0000

fern, glad the recipe worked for you. Mary, there are other recipes that might bring you back “home” in the archives of this site…

By: fern

fern — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:06:58 +0000

MM, thank you so much for sharing this simple recipe…im with my sister now in NJ and i just tried your version of tocino…my sister and her gf love it….. :)
Tomorrow im doing your tapa version.

Life is easier in the kitchen now, thanks to you MM.

By: mary

mary — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:46:42 +0000

Hello MM. I was missing the TOCINO here where I am in America because I really got tired eating thesame food at breakfast everyday like sausage then bacon, biscuit and egg, so I wanna something different breakfast like where I came from. One time I keep serching a “TOCINO RECIPE”and can`t fined nothing. I accross a lot of story but not recipe, but I never give up on looking so finally I found your site and I was so happy that somebody had an Idea about TOCINO recipe and believing on posting on the net.Thank you so much MM I am on my way now to cured the meat for breakfast yehe..he.. I finally found it..Thank you so much may God Bless U.

By: Arnel

Arnel — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:24:46 +0000

Sorry if someone already mentioned this, but thats a lot of comments to go through.

I have never straight fried Tocino. It should be cooked like Longanisa. Heat the pan and put the meat and add water to cover the meat half way. Let it boil then put to simmer. Turn the meat to let it cook properly. As the water evaporates you are left with a goowy (yummy) coating. At this time you can turn up the heat as needed to get the right texture you desire (or slightly burnt like others had mentioned).

My family is from Pampanga and thats how I learned.

Goodluck!

By: Meili

Meili — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:09:48 +0000

The reason why some people said the tocino turned out salty is that the dry ingredients can be very different depending on the salt and sugar you use. I have experimented with brown sugar and table sugar. There are actually many different types of salt that people use, that is also a significant factor.

Brenda in her comment above has it right. Taste the dry ingredients mix before using it. It should taste more sweet than salty. BTW we also add a small amount of vetsin(MSG) for a fuller taste and it makes a difference. It is not true that MSG is bad for you. This is just one of the myths/ health scares that have since been disproven.

By: paulo

paulo — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:59:52 +0000

I remember when I was in high school (almost a decade ago) we had a project which needed for us to make a ‘Xmas ham’ but it turned out to be tocino. Just an honest mistake because I didn’t care about preparing food before but I’m trying to build my ‘foundation’ in culinary arts with these recipes that you post and I must say I am learning a lot. I’ll try my luck again, this time with your recipe.

By: Ronald

Ronald — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:54:59 +0000

Greetings from Saudi Arabia!
Hi Mr. Marketman. I am currently here in KSA and I am planning for tocino business.
We have a pig farm and I am planning to invest into cured meat products but i have no knowldge about meat processing.. Can you please send me information about how to make tocino and I would like to take this opportunity to ask how long is the shelf life of that cured meat?

Ronald
(Tarlac Phils.)

By: mevoj

mevoj — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:03:40 +0000

MM,
could I use atchuete to color the tocino too?